PAP adopts SDP's ideas as policy but won't give us credit: Chee Soon Juan

Party chief lays claim to three policies that he says are similar to what SDP proposed

- Anjali Raguraman

The PAP has in the past criticised the Singapore Democratic Party's (SDP) policy proposals, only to adopt several of them later, said SDP chief Chee Soon Juan.

"During elections, the PAP will slam the opposition for its alternative proposals, and after elections, it will adopt our ideas — but it won't give (us) any credit," he told the party's supporters on April 30.

Speaking at a rally for Sembawang GRC near Sun Plaza just days ahead of the May 3 General Election, Dr Chee laid claim to three proposals by the SDP that have since become policy.

The first is an unemployment insurance scheme to provide retrenched workers with temporary financial assistance.

Initially criticised in 2016 by then Deputy Prime Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam as a "populist policy", Dr Chee said that eight years later, a very similar policy—the SkillsFuture Jobseeker Support scheme—was announced by Prime Minister Lawrence Wong.

Second, the SDP had proposed a higher income tax for Singapore's top earners to offset a reduction of the goods and services tax for basic goods.

In 2015, the Government announced during the Budget that it would increase taxes on the rich, raising marginal tax rates for the top 5 per cent of income earners.